


Ishtar, or Lilith's Garden of Earthly Delight

by Tenebrae (Trotzkopf)



Series: Lilith [1]
Category: Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, pollen sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 03:47:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29253927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trotzkopf/pseuds/Tenebrae
Summary: “There’s rumours about an “infestation”. Abandoned house. Could just be squatters, but my eddies are on a cyberpsycho. Can you check it out?”
Relationships: Dum Dum/V (Cyberpunk 2077), Female V (Cyberpunk)/Dum Dum
Series: Lilith [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2188122
Comments: 9
Kudos: 52





	Ishtar, or Lilith's Garden of Earthly Delight

“V here.”

“Hey, V,” Regina greeted, her voice strained like she was on the verge of a migraine attack, as usual. “There’s rumours about an “infestation”. Abandoned house. Could just be squatters, but my eddies are on a cyberpsycho. Can you check it out?”

V sighed under her breath. At this point she had it just about up to here with cyberpsychos, but it was Reg asking, and the pay was always decent. “Yeah, sure.”

Regina exhaled loud enough to be audible over the holo. “Thanks, V. And ‘member I want them alive if possible. Prrreee…cia…ted—” The holo disconnected with a zap.

“Fuck!” V rubbed her eyes, white and red blotches danced across her corneas. She was still trying to blink the strange lights away and contemplated swinging by Vik’s when the text arrived. “Gotta go now if you wanna catch them. Chatter is they’ll relocate soon. I’ll throw in a bonus. Thanks, V, I can always count on you.”

“Damn! Twist my arm, why dontcha?” V thought and replied with, “I’m on it.”

Kiroshis were known to glitch anyway, and a bonus sounded just like what the doc had ordered.

There was a thunderclap overhead as V kicked her Arch into gear and sped all the way to the most motherfucking forgotten corner of Northside.

*~*

The motorcycle roared one last time before it stopped across from the dilapidated structure. It was old, very old, wooden of all things, and looked completely out of place in NC. The yard was overgrown with thorny shrubs, all blackened and dead. V suppressed a shiver and blamed it on the first raindrops painting the pavement in shimmery oily colours.

“Hn, could have sworn I’ve been here before, but I’ve _never_ seen _that_! I would have remembered.” She unsheathed her favourite spiked baseball bat. Regina wanted them alive, sure, but no-one had said anything against a bit of grievous bodily harm. She gave it an affectionate kiss.

Out of the corner of her eye, Johnny flickered into existence. “Tsk. You’re so fucking weird.”

“What can I say? I like em hard.” She waited for a lewd comeback, but Johnny’s focus seemed to have wandered to their destination instead.

“Strange that. Like it was klept straight from a Lovecraftian nightmare.”

“A what now?”

Johnny scoffed. “Read a book, gonk brain!”

V stuck her tongue out at him before she looked back at the house. “Thought the corps had flattened every private residence this side of town ages ago.”

He shrugged. “Looks like they missed a spot.”

Lightning tore the clouds apart with thunder on its heels. The sky opened and it didn’t so much rain, it poured.

“Well, nightmare or not, it’s bound to be a great deal dryer than here,” V said and, after a quick scan, dashed onto the porch. Two steps in and her boot went straight through the rotten wood. “Fuck!” She dropped Barbed Ruth as she tried to stop her face from kissing the floor.

“For fuck’s sake! Is it amateur hour or are you just that fuckin—“ 

V’s retort died on her tongue as she twisted free and whirled around, only to be greeted with…nothing. Johnny had vanished. She shook her head and peered out into the rain.

“Johnny?”

Maybe he was just fed up with her for today? It wouldn’t be the first time.

“Yeah, fucking delta, ass wipe,” she muttered, picking up her bat, and hissed as she took a step. “Well, that’s just fucking nova!” She glanced down. Her trousers were torn above her ankle. She could feel the sting of shallow cuts. They would need cleaning with industrial strength antiseptic no doubt, but for now a MaxDoc would have to suffice to help her focus on the task at hand. 

V took a deep breath. “That bonus better be out of this world.”

*~*

Rain and thunder drowned out all noise as she strained to listen for any suspicious sounds. She made a mental note to look into implants next time she stopped at a ripper. Coyote like hearing would have come in handy right about now. When all stayed quiet, V reached out. The frontdoor swung open to the lightest touch.

Dry air hit her face as she stepped over the threshold. There was a scent, something. She sniffed, and instead of must and dust got chrome, something sweet… and blood.

“Looks like we have a winner,” V thought with a feral grin. How Reg always ferreted these guys out, she had no idea.

V crouched and made her way through the shadows. Her scanner picked up a big pile of nothing, but the scent got stronger the further she made it into the darkness. The storm raged outside, flashes of lightning illuminated her surroundings every few seconds, rain pelted against the walls and windows, but it was quieter now like the sounds of a club after you’ve left the building.

A bead of sweat travelled along her spine; she wiped her brow with the back of her hand. She sure would have loved to ditch her leather coat at this point. Her throat felt positively parched. A tiny part of her wondered how it could be so damn hot in an abandoned house in the middle of a thunderstorm, but the rest of her was too focused on finding her quarry to notice.

Upstairs was a no starter. The second floor had completely collapsed. The first floor was eerily empty, except for broken furniture here and there she had to step over or around.

“Basement it is,” V murmured under her breath. She set her boot onto the first step and sent a silent prayer to whichever god would care to listen that it wouldn’t creak.

Her palms were sweaty as she adjusted her grip on Barbed Ruth. The stairs seemed to go on for a long time, all natural night had vanished by the time she reached the bottom, tinting everything in the night vision green of her Kiroshis. Her nostrils flared with each puff of breath, the air was sweltering. Her skin itched where her tank top and pants stuck to her skin. There was that sound again.

“I’m not alone,” she thought. Her eyes opened wide, she could feel her augmented hands leaving permanent dents in the bat’s metal handle. “Definitely not alone.”

Lights flashed to her left. Barbed Ruth swooshed through the air. Chips of concrete scattered as the bat hit a wall.

“Fuck, ugh—“ V landed on her back as someone crashed into her. The room was spinning. The attacker crouched on top of her, one of her hands was pinned to the ground next to her head. There was the unmistakable sound of a gun being cocked as the cold metal of the barrel pressed into her cheek. She tried to focus, but all she could see were glowing orbs like angry fireflies taking up all of her world.

“The fuck ya doin’ here?” A familiar voice growled.

V squinted. “Uh…Dum Dum, that you?”

For a few seconds the barrel pressed harder into her flesh, the lights came so close she had to close her eyes or go blind. She could feel his breath ghosting over her skin. She shivered, and then, it was over. She tentatively opened her eyes and stared up where Dum Dum was still straddling her hips, looking down at her with what she guessed was curiosity.

“Asked ya a question, merc.”

Well, shit. If he was the target, he was more together than any other cyberpsycho V had ever encountered. She opted for honesty. “Here on a gig. You?”

“What kind?” He asked, ignoring her question.

V hesitated. “Ah…well— hey!” The barrel of the gun was back, she was getting worried she was going to lose a tooth at this rate. “Cyberpsycho! Was told there was a cyberpsycho infestation.”

“Hmmm…alright then.” Dum Dum holstered his Nova, and V let out a breath she hadn’t noticed she was holding.

They stared at each other for a bit until V said, “Choom, for what it’s worth, you’re definitely my favourite Maelstromer, but ’s there a rational reason you’re still on top of me?”

Dum Dum cocked his head. She could feel the muscles in his legs flexing as he rocked back and forth until he let out a snarl and sprang to his feet. He took a few steps back. Something clanked as his boot made contact with her bat. He reached down and picked it up.

As soon as he was gone V felt oddly cold, goosebumps spread all over her body. She kinda didn’t loathe him as much as the others, sure, but this was weird. What the hell was going on?

Dum Dum seemed to assess Barbed Ruth before he shifted his gaze back to her. “A cyberpsycho, and ya bring _this_? What was the plan, give ‘em a massage?”

V scrunched up her nose. “Fuck you!” She got up and snatched her bat back. Dum Dum cackled.

“Haven’t told me yet why you’re here,” V said, trying to sound nonchalant.

“Biz,” he grunted as he walked passed her deeper into the room.

V rolled her eyes. “What kind?”

He turned and grinned over his shoulder. “None of yours.”

“Funny,” V deadpanned. “You klepped that line from a vid?”

“Might’ve,” he chuckled and V felt it all the way in her gut.

Something was wrong. All her senses screamed danger at her, had now for a while, but somehow her brain processed it all as “mmh yeah, more please.”

“Gotta delta,” she said. Clearly no gig here today and she got the funny feeling if she didn’t get out of here soon something bad was going to happen. Really bad. Like wrongedy wrong bad.

But then Dum Dum spoke again in that growly voice and V found herself moving closer instead of making for the stairs. “Will ya look at that?”

“What?” V caught up with him as he flipped a switch which opened a hidden door. Blinding light streamed into the darkness. V had to briefly close her eyes to adjust before she followed him into the room.

“That’s…not what I had expected,” V remarked as she took in the sight.

There were plants in long rows: tall, leafy green with yellow blooms. Pipes running along the ceiling constantly spraying a light mist onto the foliage, emitting a soft, rhythmical hissing sound. V’s mouth had dropped open as she trailed behind Dum Dum through the room. Heat danced in the air. V felt lightheaded.

“What’s all this?” She asked, brushing sweat from her face.

“Trouble,” Dum Dum muttered. There was a lab station against the far side wall. He strode toward it and picked up one of the vials.

V appeared by his elbow and leaned in a bit too close, her hand resting on his shoulder which made him flinch and turn in surprise. She jumped back, expecting a blow that never came. Instead he held the vial in front of her face for closer inspection. It looked like slow moving gold-glitter paint.

“What am I looking at?” She asked. Why was it so damn hot in here? At least Dum Dum seemed to be affected as well. She could see the sweat running down the side of his neck.

“Fuckin’ Ishtar,” Dum Dum replied which explained exactly nothing.

“Some kinda drug, I guess?”

Dum Dum put the vial into a pouch strapped to his belt. “Yeah, and then some.”

“The fuck’s that supposed to mean?” V raised an eyebrow.

“Fine. Yes. A drug.”

“What’s it do?”

She could see him swallowing. “Flesh is weak,” he replied.

“Right. What?”

Instead of an explanation, she only got a grunt as he seemed to focus on something behind her shoulder. When she turned to look, she saw a heavy metal door. They exchanged a quick glance, Dum Dum drew his Nova before V tried the handle. It gave and swung open.

Black velvet decorated the back wall. Four floodlights surrounded a huge mattress in the centre of the room covered in white sheets that looked way too innocent for what undoubtedly transpired in this place. Shackles were bolted into the far side wall. Toys of varying sizes and shapes littered the floor.

“Oh my!” V exclaimed. “BD stage. Clearly. But, where’s the crew?”

Dum Dum cleared his throat. “Delta. Now.”

He didn’t move. Neither did V.

“Yeah. Sure.” V agreed, still staring at the bed. She licked her lips. All Dum Dum had to do was turn and he would be right there. Right where—

There was a loud crack when his gun hit the floor.

“Flesh is weak,” he growled, he was panting open mouthed. He glanced over his shoulder and V’s knee started to give.

“Flesh is weak,” he repeated, and V privately agreed, but couldn’t quite see what was so bad about that. Not when Dum Dum finally stepped into her personal space. This time it was him leaning in, inhaling deeply, almost purring like a panther.

“Whatcha doing?” V hated how shaky her voice was. Hated how much her skin tingled at their proximity. Hated how much she wanted him to touch her. Fuck, this was bad.

“Yeah,” he admitted dreamily. “Ya smell like candy, princess. Can I call ya Candy?”

“Do it and I’ll toss you into an MRI and watch your chrome getting ripped straight from your skull,” V whispered, finally shrugging out of her coat. It landed with a dull thud, but V barely noticed.

He chuckled again, his hand reaching for her neck, the touch sending a jolt through her all the way to her core. “You say the sweetest things, sugarplum. Told ya I like your style, didn’t I?”

V tried to swallow, but she had no spit left. Her nostrils flaring as she reached out, lacing her hands behind his neck. He stepped closer, his arms pulling her in. So close. He dipped his head as she tilted her chin up to meet him.

“V, my name is V,” she breathed against his lips, not quite not kissing yet.

“FUCK!” His eyes flashed bright red, a roar climbed out of his chest as he pushed her away. V’s eyes went wide, her skin was burning, longing, but the distance meant a sliver of sanity managed to slip in.

“The fuck’s happenin’?” She asked, not sure whether she meant him pulling or pushing. Her head swam.

“It’s…it’s Ishtar. Not sure how but…We gotta…we…” He stumbled forward trying to push past her. A mistake.

As soon as they touched, their fate was sealed. V didn’t know how it had happened, but her back was pressed against the wall, Dum Dum pressing against her front and devouring her lips, with tongue and teeth. Biting, licking into her mouth. She tried to reciprocate, but her coordination was shot to shits. Her hands fumbled with their clothes, trying to rip the fabric off her, off him. Seams split.

“Fucking belt,” she whined.

A knife suddenly glinted by her eye, but it only made her grin harder as he cut the stubborn clothes off them, leaving them gloriously naked. Skin touching skin and chrome.

He groaned when she found a softer spot on his neck, biting into the tender flesh. He lifted her up, her legs wrapping around his waist. He could take her. Right here and now, against the wall. She wanted him to. “I’m fucking soaked.”

“Fuck yeah, ’m gonna make ya scream, sugarplum.”

“Nova,” V panted as she was thrown onto the mattress.

“Wha…how…how do ya know my name?” His voice sounded confused, but he was all the same crawling over her naked body, leaving a trail of bites on the inside of her leg.

“Name? What? Your name is Nova?”

“What? Noah. It’s…was Noah. I thought…don’t matter. Call me whatever ya want. Just let me get inside of _this_.” He licked into her core. V’s back arched off the mattress, mouth opened in a silent O. Her hands ripping the sheets. She could feel him smiling against her skin, lapping, sucking, making her lose whatever mind she had left. She trapped his head between her thighs, holding him in place, he was moaning against her flesh, his implants biting into her skin only heightening the sensation as the heat exploded through her in a tidal wave.

“Fuuuuck!” V groaned, feeling boneless and floaty. Every muscle in her body seemed to relax into the mattress. She reached for him as he kissed his way up to her neck, hiding his face in the crook of her neck as he lined up and with a gut twisting moan buried himself in her wet heat.

They started moving together. V clawing at his back, his shoulders. Her augmented hands leaving deep welts in his skin, which only spurred him on to move faster, deeper, claiming her. He chased her mouth, her throat, sucking deep bruises into her soft skin. His hands wrapping around her ass, pulling her closer, taking over and setting a brutal pace until V felt each pulse of his cock as he came.

He kissed her again, deep, possessive, before working his way down her body again, purposefully avoiding where she wanted him most. Her high pitched whine making him chuckle.

“Ya’re hurt,” he murmured, his tongue lapping at the wound on her leg. 

“On my way in,” she sighed. “’s nothing.”

“Hn,” he lifted his head. “Same. He crawled back up until he could flop next to her, he was still hard as rock she noticed, their shoulders touching. He lifted his leg. And true to his words, he sported the same scratches. It made her feel a little less foolish. She turned her head and smirked at him. He smirked back.

She took a moment to study his face up close. She reached for him, her fingertips trailing the sharp angles of his face. He playfully bit the pad of her thumb as she traced his lips.

Noah. She wondered who he had been. What was the colour of his eyes? Why had he joined Maelstrom? She meant to ask. Although her mind was still floating on a pink cloud, V tried to form coherent words. “Why—“

But he was already reaching for her, pulling her on top, and V forgot about asking as she sank down on his cock.

*~*

“My head!” V groaned. Tongue swiping over chapped lips, her body felt like one big bruise. She turned her head. “FUCK!”

Red lights glowed. “FUCK!”

V scrambled as far as possible from the bed until she crouched in a corner. “What the fuck?” Her eyes darting around the room.

Dum Dum let his face sink back into the mattress and screamed. He punched down, hard enough to make his whole body bounce, almost throwing him off. 

She clamped her hand over her mouth to stifle the chuckle bubbling up from her chest. She was pretty sure Dum Dum wouldn’t appreciate being laughed at right now. When she spotted what was left of her clothes at the other end of the room, she straightened up with a groan and stopped dead in her track when she felt something running down the inside of her thigh.

“What?” Apparently, he had been watching.

Her head snapped up. “Nothing,” she replied tersely and walked on as if nothing had happened. She tried as best she could to ignore his nude form. Shit - even his cock was pierced. She suddenly remembered the feeling of it inside of her and almost dropped her coat from nerveless fingers.

Fuck this! Fuck Maelstrom! Fuck Regina and her cyberpsychos!

Once V was wrapped in her coat, feet stuck in unlaced boots, she dared look back at him, a sharp remark ready on her tongue, and faltered.

Dum Dum said at the edge of the mattress, his head in his hands. “Hey, are you… you okay?”

He looked up. “Fuckin’ preem, V.” He sounded anything but. So much so she took a hesitant step toward him.

“STAY BACK!” He shouted which made her flinch. She was ready to leave, hand on the handle when he spoke again, although it was barely audible. “Flesh is weak.”

“You said that last…what time is it?”

“Dunno,” he shrugged. “Mornin’, I guess. Check the holo?”

Right. She checked. 4:23am. “Yeah, early too.” Shit. How many hours had she lost? On a whim she decided to check the time of Regina’s text, only to find it was gone. Damn, must’ve deleted it by accident.

“Hey, why were you really here?” She didn’t know why this suddenly mattered, but now that it was out in the open, she wanted to know.

He eyed her for a long time before he said, “Royce sent three teams up here to check out rumours about an Ishtar lab.”

“Lemme guess, none returned?”

Dum Dum nodded.

“And you came alone?” V frowned.

“Got a call from Royce late last night. Said to check it out asap, had to be now, all quiet like. Found ya instead. Found the fuckin’ lab too, though.”

“Ishtar. What’s it exactly?”

He sighed. “Thought ya’d’ve figured that out by now.”

“It makes you want sex. Like a lot. Indiscriminately.” She struggled to keep her face calm. It wasn’t his fault they had done what they had done. No need to rub it in that he wouldn’t have been her first, or even second, or yeah, anyway.

“Makes the flesh weak!” Dum Dum growled, the red orbs flaring. “Makes ya wanna give into it. Crave it. Works on anyone, though, for sex, for BDs, but it was _designed_ to break _us_.”

“Us?” V asked, she felt nauseated. “You mean Maelstrom?”

Dum Dum grunted. “Yeah.”

A drug designed to punish chromers. Sounded like super villain shit. Sounded like corpos who wanted to keep their hounds on a tight leash.

“Let’s burn it.”

His head snapped up. “Was gonna do that anyway.”

V shrugged. “Want a helping hand?”

*~*

“The fuck?”

The house was gone. When they emerged from the cellar, smoke and ash trailing in their wake, they stood not in an old, empty Victorian wood frame building, but a simple concrete rectangle. It was littered with horribly mangled bodies, most of them had their chests ripped open, and each of them was covered in a now all too familiar golden substance.

“What the fuck is going on?” V screamed by the end of the question.

“Fuck if I know. Here!” He shoved two grenades into V’s hands.

They recoiled when they opened the front door. A body lay right out front. The ribcage looked like someone had stepped into it.

“Let’s delta or I’m gonna puke.” V pressed out between clenched teeth. They tossed the grenades and ran for it.

*~*

They stood next to V’s Arch, watching the fire and smoke when the first sirens blared from the south. Dum Dum nodded at her. “My cue to delta.” He started to walk toward an old Thorton.

“Hey!”

He turned.

“Are we cool?” V didn’t even know why, but it somehow had started to matter.

He didn’t quite meet her eyes when he said, “Yeah. Later, V.”

She nodded, arms crossed in front of her chest. She scuffed her boots on the floor, frowning.

Suddenly, he stood in front of her again. “What happened here, stays between us, ya got that? So don’t go cryin’ to your chooms, or I’ll—”

“Cause,” she cut him off, just meeting his gaze calmly. “Same goes for you. I got your back if you got mine.”

He hesitated for a second, clearly searching for a sign she would use this against him, and found nothing. His eyes flared briefly before he muttered, “Whatever,” and walked away without another backward glance.

When his car was just a dust cloud down the road, Johnny appeared.

“And where the hell have you been?” V asked.

“Me? You were the one saying night-night and it was lights out. Almost gave me a heart attack.”

“You’re already dead.” V climbed onto her motorcycle. “And it wasn’t me. Something fucking weird is going on, but I need a long shower and a coffee first before I unpack all that.”

Before she kicked her bike into gear, she noticed a new entry in her holo.

“Wow…”

“Who’s Noah?” Johnny asked.

“A…friend?”

*~*

“Ihave no idea what you’re talking about,” Regina replied.

“You… _what_?”

“I never called you about a cyberpsycho in Northside. I’d know, wouldn’t I?”

“But—“

“V, are you ok?” Reg frowned.

“I… Yes. Yes, fine. Sorry. Later.” V hung up, clasping her hands in front of her mouth, rocking back and forth on her haunches, eyes wide staring at nothing.

“Johnny?”

He flickered into existence. “Yeah?”

“Let’s get drunk, choom. Very, very drunk.”

He nodded. “Yeah. Let’s.”

The End

**Author's Note:**

> I forgot the mention, I headcanon that Lilith is the Blackwall, and she has taken an interest in V since they “met”. Lilith also likes to play games.


End file.
